International Journal of Food, Nutrition & Dietetics

Commonly, vegetables are prepared at home on the basis of convenience and taste rather than nutrient losses. many studies have been conducted in the recent past to investigate the impact of cooking methods and Ph on the retention of pigments and stability of nutrients in coloured vegetables. The results of these studies vary widely leading the consumer to question the best method of preparing and cooking coloured vegetables, A literature search was conducted to identify studies that evaluated the effects of cooking techniques on the levels of Chlorophyll and carotenoids in vegetables The objective of this review is to evaluate the most recent studies and draw conclusions that will enable: (a) the consumer to identify the impact of cooking methods and Ph on the retention of pigments of coloured vegetables and (b) identify the critical phases during cooking, when colour and nutrients might be lost. The present study concentrated on chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments.

Keywords: Chlorophyll; Carotenoids; Cooking methods; Ph; Vegetables.

A study was conducted to assess the impact of nutrition counseling on food consumption pattern of obese women from low, middle and high income group. To study the prevalence of obesity, 150 women in the age group of 40-50 years, belonging to low (LIG), middle (MIG) and high (HIG) income group (50 from each income group) were randomly selected from sub-mountainous region of Hoshiarpur city. Twenty five normal (BMI 20-22.9 kg/m2) and 25 obese (BMI ≥ 27.5 kg/m2) women from each income group were selected. Nutrition counseling was imparted to the subjects for 3 months. Its impact was assessed in terms of their dietary intake and gain in knowledge. Prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in women belonging to HIG (70.7%) followed by MIG (67.3%) and LIG (56.6%). Percent adequacy of food groups like fats & oils, cereals, milk & milk products, roots and tubers and fruits was significantly (p < 0.01) higher in obese subjects as compared to normal subjects. Nutrition counseling of the obese subjects resulted in a gain in their knowledge and quantum of improvement, which further led to a decrease in the intake of fats & oils, cereals, milk & milk products, and roots & tubers by the obese subjects, compared to their consumption before the intervention and compared to women who only received routine counseling.

Keywords: Obesity; BMI; Income groups; Nutrition counseling.

The present study was carried out with an aim to study the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding organic foods on a total of 120 selected subjects (aged between 35 and 45 years) belonging to middle income group (MIG) and high income group (HIG) from two cities of Punjab namely Ludhiana and Patiala The questionnaire consisted of various statements pertaining to knowledge, attitude and practice regarding organic foods. The major sources of information regarding organic foods were found to be television and radio, followed by newspaper, friends, organic shops, farmers and labels, values being 28.3, 18.3, 15.8, 15.8, 12.5 and 9.1%, respectively. Majority of the respondents (88%) strongly agreed that organic foods were healthier than conventional foods. Organic foods were found to be consumed by 96.7 and 93.3% percent of the MIG and HIG subjects respectively of Ludhiana city where as in Patiala city corresponding values were 83.3 and 90% respectively. There was no significant difference in the overall knowledge and attitude score of both MIG and HIG respondents. However, a statistically significant (p≤0.05) difference was observed in the overall practice score of respondents belonging to MIG and HIG. Hence, it can be concluded that as the income increases the practice of using organic foods also increases.

Keywords: Attitude; Knowledge; Practice; Organic foods; Middle Income group; High Income group.

Our ancient literatures of Hindus’, Muslims as well as of Cristian’s are full of plants described about their nutrimental and medicinal potential. A significant number of plants described in their texts are still unidentified because of least or no interest in plant taxonomy among neither grate scientists in well-developed different organisations nor respected teachers of Universities or Colleges of repute. We can say with confidence that there are no teachers who can teach Plant Taxonomy in significant numbers of academic institutions. A man of Biotechnology can do nothing if he/she can not identify the plant on which the work has to be worked out. As a result, due to nonidentification of plants we cannot use our wealth of knowledge which has been provided by our ancestors present in form of scripts. We were presented a book written by Dr. M.I.H. Farooqi entitled “Quruani Poudhe-Vagayanic Dhristi Se” while in Seminar organised by UP Biodiversity Board, Lucknow. We found that there are seventy-one plants being reported in Holy Qur’an and Bible. We have consulted the literatures available as well as the tribal of Bahraich about the uses of the plants available. The perusal of the alphabetical list of plants of Holy Qur’an reveals that there are 71 plant species representing 48 genera of 30 families.Brassicaceae, Cucurbitaceae and Moraceaefamily were found to be the biggest family represented by 6 plant species each whereas Caesalpiniaceae, Papilionoideae and Poaceae with 5 plant species each; Rosaceae and Rhamnaceae with 4 plant apecies; Mimosaceae, Liliaceae, Pinaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Oleaceae, Lytharaceae, Lamiaceae and Arecaceae with 2 plant species and rest fourteen species viz., Malvaceae, Asclepidiaceae, Lauraceae, Bixaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Juglandaceae, Cuprassaceae, Lecnoraceae, Loranthaceae, Anacardiaceae, Sterculiaceae, Ericaceae, Salvadoraceae, and Vitaceae is being represented by single plant species each.

Keywords: Qur’an; Nutrimental; Ethnomedicinal; Potential Plants.

The organic food is grown or raised can have a major impact on the mental and emotional health as well as the environment. Organic foods often have more beneficial nutrients, such as antioxidants, than their conventionallygrown counterparts and people with allergies to foods, chemicals, or preservatives often find their symptoms lessen or go away when they eat only organic foods. There is a direct mapping of nutrition management and Agriculture. Agriculture plays a very important role for the growth and development of any country. Agriculture is the sedentary human civilization whereas farming created food surpluses that enabled to live in cities. The Organic farming provides an opportunity to achieve sustainable agriculture that has grown out of the conscious efforts contributing towards rural development and livelihoods to farmers without destroying the natural resource basis. This has also benefited in the way as it reduces the environmental impacts of conventional agriculture and increase productivity in small farmers’ land holdings and the costly external inputs, and guarantees price premiums for organic products. The scientific and technological inputs have been major drivers of growth and development in agriculture and allied sectors that have enabled us to achieve self-reliant food security with a reasonable degree of resilience even in times of natural calamities, in recent years. In the present times, agricultural development is faced with several challenges relating to state of natural resources, climatechange,fragmentation and diversion ofagricultural land to non-agricultural uses, factor productivity and global trade. There is an urgent need to identify the issues of research and strategies for organic research in agri-horticultural sector, integrated farming systems, resource bases and agroecological zones. Decision support systems, expert systems and statistical methodologies/ techniques have to be developed in the field of organic farming in order to increase the agricultural production of the country.

Keywords: Small and marginal farmers; Sustainable livelihoods; Decision support system; Nutrition.